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Secrets are spells that, when played, place a buff on the casting hero.
This buff remains active until a specific action occurs, at which point the
Secret is triggered, causing its effect, and being consumed.

While your opponent can see when you play a Secret (the question mark icon
that appears next to your hero's portrait will be visible to them as well as
to you), they cannot see which Secret has been played. All Secrets have the
same mana cost within each class, meaning that the amount of mana you used on
the Secret cannot indicate to your opponent what Secret has been played.

While multiple Secrets can be active on a hero at the same time, only one
instance of each Secret can be active at once.

It is important to note that Secrets can only be triggered during your
opponent's turn.

This article will present the Secrets, their mechanics, as well as how to
counter them and how to play them most efficiently.

1. Mage Secrets and Their Mechanics

Mages have access to 9 Secrets. All Mage Secrets have the same cost of
3 Mana Crystals. We will list the Secrets and their rarity before going into
more details below.

1.1. Secret Triggering Order

As a preliminary mention, it is important to keep in mind that the order in
which Secrets were played affects the order in which they trigger. Specifically,
whenever two or more Secrets which can be triggered by the same action are
active at the same time, the Secret that was played first will trigger
first.

There are a few notable interactions between Mage Secrets with respect to
their triggering order, as we see below.

If both Counterspell and Spellbender are active, and a
spell is cast on one of the Mage's minions, Counterspell will be triggered
(because the spell never actually reaches the minion in order to trigger
Spellbender).

If both Ice Barrier and Ice Block are active at the same
time, and an attack is made against the Hero that would kill them, Ice Barrier
will trigger first (and Ice Block will only trigger if the attack was large
enough to deal lethal damage through the Ice Barrier and the hero's health).
Note that in this case Ice Block would leave the hero with the remaining health
and the 8 Armor from Ice Barrier (making it a sub-optimal play, to say the
least). In case Vaporize is also active, it will be the only Secret
that triggers, since the minion dying prevents it from attacking and triggering
Ice Barrier or Ice Block.

1.2. Duplicate

Duplicate is triggered when one of the Mage's minions dies. When
this happens, two copies of that minion are put into the Mage's hand.

There is nothing ambiguous or surprising about the way that this Secret
works.

1.3. Ice Barrier

Ice Barrier is triggered when the Mage is attacked, and it grants
them 8 Armor.

Only physical attacks count towards this Secret, meaning that if the Mage
takes damage from a spell (whether from a card, a Battlecry, or a Hero Power),
the Secret will not trigger. This means that it is indeed possible for the
Mage to die with Ice Barrier active, if their opponent only uses spells against you.

Once triggered, though, the Armor will actually mitigate damage from all
types of damage, including spell damage. Armor is nothing more than an
extension of health.

1.4. Mirror Entity and Potion of Polymorph

Mirror Entity and Potion of Polymorph are triggered when the Mage's opponent plays a minion. Mirror Entity summons a copy of that minion for
the Mage, while Potion of Polymorph turns the minion into a 1/1 Sheep.

The wording here is important. The two Secrets will only be triggered when
the opponent plays a minion, meaning that if the minion is summoned as
part of some effect other than being played from the hand as a minion card,
they will not trigger. For example, Mirror Entity does not trigger its effect when a minion is summoned as a result of a spell or Hero Power (such as
Shaman Totemic Call or Paladin Reinforce).

A very important issue regarding Mirror Entity concerns Battlecries.
Since Battlecries are effects that take place when a card is played from
the hand, and since Mirror Entity copies are summoned and not played
from the hand, their Battlecries will not also be copied. For example, if
Mirror Entity copies an Ironbeak Owl, its Silence Battlecry will not be
usable. This applies even for Battlecries that do not require targeting, such
as the Battlecry of the Mad Bomber.

That said, there is an important exception here. Mirror Entity copies the
minion after it has appeared on the board, which means that if the minion has
a Battlecry that affects it, Mirror Entity will basically copy that Battlecry
as well. For example, if the Mage's opponent plays an
Injured Blademaster, then Mirror Entity will copy a damaged 4/3 minion,
and not a 4/7 minion, despite the fact that the Injured Blademaster is a 4/7
minion on its minion card. This is because the Injured Blademaster deals damage to himself and changes his stats as part of his Battlecry, and Mirror Entity
copies it afterwards. The same applies to the Twilight Drake, the
health of which changes as soon as it reaches the board.

1.5. Counterspell and Spellbender

Counterspell is triggered when the Mage's opponent casts a spell, and it
counters it. This means that the effect of the spell does not take
place, but the opponent's Mana Crystals and card are used up in the
process. Counterspell does not apply to Hero Powers or Battlecries, being
exclusive to spells that come from cards.

Spellbender is very similar to Counterspell, with a few key differences.
Like Counterspell, Spellbender is triggered when the Mage's opponent casts a
spell, but Spellbender is only triggered by spells that are cast on minions. So,
while Counterspell will prevent a Fireball from hitting the Mage, or
a Holy Light from healing the Mage's opponent, Spellbender will not be
triggered by these spells, since they are not cast on minions. Examples of
spells that trigger Spellbender are Blessing of Kings or
Mind Control.

When Spellbender is triggered, the spell is not countered, but instead a
1/3 minion is summoned for the Mage, and this minion becomes the new target of
the spell. So, if Spellbender was triggered by a Blessing of Kings, then the
1/3 minion will receive the buff, and the Mage will end up with a 5/7 minion.
If Spellbender was triggered by a Mind Control, the 1/3 minion will be mind
controlled, and it will move over to the opponent's side.

Finally, we would like to mention that when both Counterspell and
Spellbender are up at the same time, and a spell is cast that would trigger both
of them, it is Counterspell that will be triggered.

1.6. Effigy

Effigy is triggered when one of the Mage's minions dies. When this
happens, a random minion of the same cost as the minion that died is summoned
for the Mage. This new minion is not restricted to the Mage's deck (it can be
any minion in the game), and as with all summoned units, it will not play its
Battlecry on appearing on the board.

1.7. Vaporize

Vaporize is triggered when the Mage is attacked by a minion, and
it kills that minion. As the wording implies, the effect is only triggered by
minion attacks (so Battlecries, spells, Hero Powers, or weapon attacks have no
effect on it). The effect will kill any minion, even if it has a Divine Shield
or an immunity effect (such as from Bestial Wrath) active on it.

It is important to note that when a minion triggers Vaporize, it dies before
actually attacking the Mage, meaning that they do not take any damage from that
minion.

1.8. Ice Block

Ice Block is triggered when the Mage takes fatal damage, and it
causes the them to become immune for the remainder of the turn.

This means that if the Mage has 3 health, and it takes 4 damage, the 4
damage will trigger Ice Block, which will then prevent the 4 damage from
affecting them. The Ice Block will remain active for the rest of the turn,
meaning that the Mage cannot be killed.

Ice Block is triggered by any type of damage (minion attacks, Battlecries,
spells, Hero Powers, weapons), and it also blocks any type of damage while it
is active.

1.9. Kirin Tor Mage and Ethereal Arcanist

The Kirin Tor Mage is a 4/3 minion with a Battlecry that causes the next
Secret played during that turn to be free of cost.

The Ethereal Arcanist has a passive ability that causes it to gain +2/+2
at the end of every turn if the Mage has at least one active Secret. There is no
limit to how much this buff can stack.

2. Countering/Detecting Mage Secrets

Whether you are playing against a Mage, or you are playing as a Mage, it is
very important to learn how to counter and play around the Mage Secrets. We
will approach this section as though your opponent was playing the Secret, but
you can of course use the information if you yourself are the Mage, in order to
understand how your Secrets may be countered.

Whenever a Mage plays a Secret, you will immediately need to make it a
priority to find out what that Secret is, and to remove it at the smallest
possible cost.

As soon as a Secret is played, you will have to do the following actions in
an order that suits your current situation:

kill one of the Mage's minions, the one that would be least beneficial for
the Mage to get two copies of in their hand (in case the secret is
Duplicate), and ideally one that costs little Mana (in case the secret
is Effigy);

If you have performed all of the above actions and none of them triggered
a Secret, then the only other possibility is that the Secret is
Ice Block.

Let us look at each Secret in a bit more detail. Remember that these actions
do not need to be performed in a specific order, since they depend greatly on
what your options are (whether or not you have weak minions on the board or in
your hand, or if you have spells, etc.).

2.1. Vaporize and Ice Barrier

Both Vaporize and Ice Barrier are triggered from attacks
made against the Mage. The optimal way to test for these Secrets is to attack
the Mage with your weakest or most expendable minion, such as a
Novice Engineer or a Silver Hand Recruit. In case the Secret is
Vaporize, you will have only lost a very weak minion.

Naturally, if you know for a fact that the Secret cannot be Vaporize (if,
in Play mode, the Mage had already played 2 Vaporize spells in that game),
then it is safe to attack the Mage with any minion you like. It is also
interesting to note that, since your weapon attacks trigger Ice Barrier, but
not Vaporize, you can attack with your weapon first, if your only minion on
the board is too important to risk losing to Vaporize. If your weapon attack
triggers Ice Barrier, then you know it is safe to attack with your minion.

2.2. Mirror Entity and Potion of Polymorph

Testing for Mirror Entity and Potion of Polymorph is as simple as playing a very weak
minion. Note that your Hero Powers do not trigger Mirror Entity or Potion of
Polymorph, if you are a
Shaman or a Paladin, so you will need to actually play a minion from your
hand.

You should try to play the minion that will be least beneficial for your
opponent, or least costly for you to remove from the board later on, in case
the Secret turns out to be Mirror Entity. For
instance, if you are a Mage, you could play a Magma Rager, since
you can easily kill this minion with a Fireblast, and its high attack
value of 5 would not cause any problems to you.

2.3. Counterspell and Spellbender

Testing for these two Secrets can sometimes by done at the same time, if you
are able to use a spell that targets a minion. When doing so, you should again
choose the weakest, most unimportant spell you have. For example, you could
test it with an Ice Lance or a Holy Smite. If you are in a
position where your opponent is clearly very vulnerable to your usage of a
particular spell, your should not use that spell first, since it is very
likely that they put up Counterspell or Spellbender especially to counter that
situation.

In any case, you should be very wary of casting buffs when a Spellbender
might be up. If you cast a Blessing of Kings on one of your minions and
Spellbender triggers it, the Mage will end up with a very strong 5/8
minion.

2.4. Duplicate and Effigy

Playing around Duplicate is a bit difficult, since you will not
often have a great variety of killable minions to choose from. In any case,
if you have reason to suspect that the Secret is Duplicate, you should avoid
killing a minion that would be particularly beneficial for the Mage to get in
their hand (such as minions with Battlecries or Deathrattles that would be
very detrimental to you in your respective situation).

Playing around Effigy is similar to playing around Duplicate, in that you want to have the secret be triggered by killing a weak minion, and not one that is expensive and whose death will result in another expensive (and therefore mostly likely strong) minion on the board.

2.5. Ice Block

It is not possible to test for Ice Block except through a process of
elimination, or by killing your opponent. If you are in a position to do lethal
damage to your opponent, and you suspect that they might have Ice Block up,
there is something you can do to minimise its effect.

Since Ice Block prevents lethal damage and makes the hero immune for the
remainder of the turn, it is inevitable that they will survive the turn, so
there is nothing you can do about this. However, what you can control
(depending on your options at the time) is how much health they survive the
turn with. For example, if your opponent has 10 health left, and you can do
8 damage to them with a minion, and 2 with another minion, attacking them with
the 2-damage minion first would cause them to become immune when taking the
subsequent 8-damage attack, meaning that they would survive the turn with
8 health. Conversely, if you attack with the 8-damage minion first, Ice Block
will not be triggered, since the damage is not lethal, and only the 2-damage
attack would trigger it. This means that the opponent would survive the turn
with only 2 health.

The idea is that when you suspect that Ice Block might be active, you should
bring the hero as close to 0 health as possible before finishing them off.

3. Using Mage Secrets Efficiently

How to best use your Secrets as a Mage depends greatly on the situation in
which you find yourself. To begin with, if you are building a Secret-heavy
deck, it is advised to use both the Kirin Tor Mage and the
Ethereal Arcanist as well, since they synergise very well. You should
always try to combined your Secrets with these minions whenever possible.
If you have a Kirin Tor Mage and a Secret in your hand that you would like to
play, make sure to play the Kirin Tor Mage first. The Ethereal Arcanist is
guaranteed to gain at least +2/+2 if you play him on a turn during which a
Secret is active, and he may gain even more if you can keep him and the Secret
up for additional turns.

We will go through each of the Secrets and give you the best uses for them,
but again, remember that you are always going to take some risks when playing
a Secret, since you never know for sure what actions your opponent will take.
Experience with the game and knowledge of your opponent's mechanics will go a
long way to ensure that you get more benefit from your Secrets.

3.1. Duplicate and Effigy

It is somewhat difficult to benefit greatly from Duplicate and
Effigy, because
it involves playing them and hoping that your opponent will kill the minion you
desire them to kill. In most cases, this will be obvious to the opponent, and
they will try to avoid it (by killing a weaker minion instead).

Duplicate and Effigy are probably best played when you are in a secure board position,
so that several turns pass before your opponent can kill one of your minions,
causing them to lose track of what your plans might have been. Likewise, if
you are able to greatly pressure your opponent at the same time, they might
simply be forced to kill a minion that will be beneficial for you in terms of
Duplicate or Effigy.

It is important to remind you here that Secrets only trigger on your
opponent's turn, so you cannot simply perform a trade and having the resulting
minion death trigger the Secret, so watch out for that.

3.2. Ice Barrier

Ice Barrier is the easiest Secret to play. Basically, you should use
this Secret whenever you can do so efficiently (if you have 3 Mana Crystals
left and nothing else to use them on, for instance), since the Armor does not
wear off after a certain amount of time. You can think of Ice Barrier as an
8-health heal.

3.3. Mirror Entity

Obviously, to gain the most benefit from Mirror Entity, you should
have it copy very powerful minions. It is, however, impossible to tell
for sure what minion your opponent will play the next turn, so there is always
some risk involved. We will give you a few examples to illustrate the worst and
best times to play this card.

If it is turn 2, and you have The Coin and Mirror Entity, this would
normally be a very bad time to play the Secret, since your opponent is very
likely to trigger its effect with a weak minion. Therefore, it is ideal to
use this Secret later on in the game, when the bigger minions are usually
played.

If it is turn 7, and you do not have board control (your opponent has
3 minions on the board and you have none, and no way to clear the board), this
would normally also be a bad time to use the Secret. As soon as Mirror Entity
would trigger, your opponent would have a variety of options for dealing with
the newly-summoned minion, leaving you at a disadvantage once again. If your
circumstances are quite desperate, however, you may be forced to play Mirror
Entity in this situation if only to slow your opponent down.

The ideal time to play Mirror Entity is when you predict that your
opponent will play a strong minion. For example, if it is turn 6 and you have
a reasonably strong minion on the board, while your opponent has none, this is
generally a good time to play Mirror Entity. It is likely that your opponent
would feel compelled to play a strong minion to avoid falling behind too
much.

Mirror Entity can also be quite useful extremely late in the game, in
situations when both you and your opponent are out of cards in your hand, and
are each more or less relying on the first cards you draw from your decks.
In a situation like this, it is unlikely that your opponent would have a way to
deal with your minion when it spawns, giving you the choice to kill the
opponent's minion with it (assuming that the two minions can trade with one
another), or simply to finish them off before they can finish you off (assuming
that your health is higher).

The variety of situations is great, so we cannot really give any rules.
Simply try to predict what your opponent will do, and use Mirror Entity when
you feel it will be most beneficial.

3.4. Counterspell

Much like Mirror Entity, Counterspell is very useful if it
counters a powerful spell, or a spell that would have been particularly
problematic for you at a certain time. As such, you should avoid using
Counterspell "whenever you get a chance", since it is likely to be used up by
spells that do not change the game very much.

For example, playing Counterspell on turns 2-4 will is not normally a good
idea, since the spells used here are unlikely to have a great impact on the
game. Of course, an exception would be if you have several low-health minions
on the board, and you are worried that your opponent will use a board-clearing
ability to try to regain control. Using Counterspell at such a time could truly
magnify your advantage by wasting your opponent's turn and leaving all your
minions intact.

It is ideal to use Counterspell when you have some idea of what spells your
opponent will use. For instance, if you are playing against a Priest, it is
a bad idea to play powerful minions on or after turn 10, unless you have a way
to remove these minions, since the Priest is likely to use Mind Control
on them. That said, this is the ideal time to use Counterspell. If you use it
during turn 6 (and your opponent does not trigger it) or turn 7, and then play
a strong minion, the Priest will either waste their Mind Control on
Counterspell, or they will trigger Counterspell with a weaker spell, which will
then put them in a position where they cannot afford to cast Mind Control that
turn.

Of course, any time Counterspell is triggered, this is a small victory for
you, even if the spell itself was weak. So, do not hold on to Counterspell for
a very long time, waiting for some ideal moment that may never come.

3.5. Spellbender

Spellbender should be used almost identically to
Counterspell. If you have the option of playing both Secrets, but you
have a good reason to think that the opponent will cast a beneficial spell,
such as a Blessing of Kings, then it is best to use Spellbender.

3.6. Potion of Polymorph

Potion of Polymorph is difficult to use efficiently, given that
playing around this Secret is quite easy by triggering it with a weak
minion (which your opponents will often do anyway since this also checks for
Mirror Entity). As such, for Potion of Polymorph to be truly
effective (which is to say, for it to trigger against a strong or impactful
minion) you will need to either predict your opponent's play very well, or
otherwise be so far ahead that they have no choice but to play a strong
minion.

It is worth noting that saving Potion of Polymorph for the late game
can be beneficial, especially if you suspect your opponent's deck relies on
big late-game threats.

3.7. Vaporize

Vaporize can be an extremely powerful tool if used at the right
time. Naturally, the spell can easily be triggered by weak minions, costing
your opponent very little, and your opponent will usually attack with a weaker
minion first, whenever you have an active Secret. So, you should generally not
use Vaporize when your opponent can make this type of decision.

For example, using Vaporize early, when your opponent has a
couple of weak Murlocs on the board is generally a poor decision, since the
Secret will not benefit you very much.

On the other hand, if it is later in the game and your opponent has one
strong minion on the board (or a strong minion and one or more weak ones,
assuming you can kill the weak ones with your Hero Power and/or some other
spells), then Vaporize is ideal. In this situation, unless your opponent has
a minion with Charge to send in and trigger Vaporize, they will either get
their strong minion killed, or they will be forced to wait for at least one
turn without attacking.

3.8. Ice Block

Unlike the other Secrets, Ice Block will only trigger when you really
need it to, so it is possible, and indeed ideal, to use it as early in the game
as you can afford to do so efficiently. Not only will it still be active when
you need it (unless a Hunter uses Flare, but this is rather unlikely),
but it will also force your opponent to play conservatively while they check
to see what Secret you have active.

Ice Block is particularly useful against opponents who attempt to deal a
massive amount of damage in a single round, such as Murloc or
Unleash the Hounds rushes. These decks rely on getting the kill on the
respective turn, and are likely to run out of momentum after that, since
Murlocs and cheap Beasts have very low staying power. As a Mage, you are
likely to have various methods of removing these minions on the next turn, or
of finishing the hero, so Ice Block can truly be a life-saver in these
situations.